So here's the deal. I don't own "Hero High" and probably wont. I do plan on running my own Claremont Academy game in the near future - just coming up with my own material for it, rather than using the stuff in the old sourcebook.

I am trying to brainstorm ideas for adventure/campaign ideas. Have any of you run in Claremont Academy before? What did your games tend to be like? Were they focused more on everyday life, or were you pretty much just like a normal superteam, who had to take classes periodically?

Any specific ideas for threats/adventures? Anything would be helpful. Thanks!

I ran a Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters game (X-Men) for a while. Here are some of the things that I used in it. We did have only a small class of 6 students, but maybe some of these ideas can be of use to you? Please be aware that all of this is what I can remember off the top of my head (I’m not at home at the moment) and kind of a sampling to hopefully get you inspired!

In the beginning we tried to do a Danger Room session each game (usually fairly short in length, though occasionally they would consume the entire afternoon) along with either a class, lecture or afterschool/weekend activity. As the characters became more proficient with their powers and their lives grew more complex, many of our adventures began to take place outside more and more.

DANGER ROOM IDEAS Sessions that were “failed” were repeated so that the student (and player) had a chance to feel “redeemed.” Only non-lethal attacks (or restraints) were used unless otherwise specified.

“Cross the room” THE introductory Danger Room session for any X-Man or Woman. The student simply had to cross the room and exit on the other side. We used a set time (2 minutes, I believe) for this to be completed and there were obstacles (such as hidden pits filled with water, geysers that knocked them back several feet, flypaper-like sections of the floor or wall, etc.) to make it difficult for them. Usually about half the characters succeeded and half failed but it made for a lot of fun and built some camaraderie between the new students.

“Everybody cross the room” Always the second session but this time it requires all of the team to cross the room under the time limit. Good for encouraging them to work together.

“Tag” Simply a game of tag in the Danger Room with a set time limit and active traps/obstacles operating. The student who is “it” when the time limit expires has to do some extra chore (it ended up that the other students chose to help the loser complete this, further building a team dynamic).

CLASSES AND LECTURES When we did the classes/lectures, I always tried to include an “answer and question” period (which was generally well received by the players and often gave me insight into directions that their characters were heading). The important thing with the classes/lectures was to keep them brief unless the players were getting into it and feeding the situation. No one wants to be lectured at for real…

“Magic 101” Doctor Strange (Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme in our campaign) showed up to give an introductory lecture on magic and how it relates to the “real” world. Unbeknownst to him (and the students who had teleportation ), that player had a great deal of mystical potential and a simple spell that Doctor Strange was using to show the kids some other dimension realms ended up becoming a portal, sucking them through and knocking out the good Doctor. The kids had to survive in a vastly alien realm while defending the Doctor until he could be revived and take everyone home.

“Unstable Molecules and You!” Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic brings the kids to the Baxter Building (home of the Fantastic Four) to discuss his invention of unstable molecules (the same that is used to make the X-Men student costumes). We glossed over this pretty quickly. While at the building though, Reed gets called away for an emergency and the student who is the son of Ben Grimm decided to give everyone a tour. A lot of hilarity ensued involving HERBIE and the Negative Zone portal.

FIELD TRIPS

The Savage Land No X-Men game feels complete to me without at least one trip to the Savage Land! We ran through a basic fly-over, discussing the history of the place (thank you Wiki!) before having the Blackbird brought down by pteranodons. After surviving the crash the team got involved in a local dispute between tribes and a run-in with a hidden AIM team trying to plunder the ancient technology that keeps the Savage Land going. They eventually were able to contact the Fantastic Four for a lift home.

Latvia One of our students was the ward of Dr. Doom (as you might remember, the X-Men weren’t necessarily on terrible terms with him once upon a time). It certainly made for interesting dynamics as another player was the son of Ben Grimm/the Thing! Anyway, the students and Xavier travelled to Latvia for “Dooms Day” (the yearly celebration of Dr. Doom’s “liberation” of Latvia). Of course things go askew and the students end up witnessing what they think is the murder of Dr. Doom (it was actually a Doombot that Dr. Doom used to trick the assassin). By the time the whole thing was over, the students actually liked Dr. Doom better (for the most part) and he even extended an offer to one of them to consider returning to Latvia following his eventual graduation and becoming a "national hero."

SHIELD The Professor arranged a tour of the SHIELD Helicarrier. We discussed the history of SHIELD and the students were able to ask questions of Nick Fury (where, of course, he suggested that they consider a career as SHIELD agents when trained). This one was fun because the players were absolutely certain that something awful was going to happen (because it’s SHIELD, with spies and such). Nothing did. *lol*

Okay, I'm also in the process of resuming a previously abandoned Claremont Academy game, so this thread is relevant to my interests. One idea I had for the renewed game was "Designated School Battlezones", areas within the school where student-vs-student fighting is allowed, and in some cases encouraged, in order for the students to prepare for real-life combat situations that can occur anywhere. As well as to help students "work out issues in a controlled, non-lethal environment". Fights are to submission or incapacitation, and the losers are immediately teleported to the Academy's infirmary.

Naturally, this is exploited by Bullies as a way to have fun beating up weaker students. And just as Naturally, this drives the more honorable, dedicated would-be hero students to challenge the bullies to prevent this. Which is the true purpose of the designated Battlezones.